RSSMix.com Mix ID 37134

Do I Look Any Different to You?

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:20:44 -0500

This last week included two major milestones for me: first, my tenure vote went through at the department level. This marks the end of a long and exacting journey of teaching, scholarship, and service to the university. More of these to come, of course, but it’s good to feel validated in my efforts [...]

A Couple of Anniversaries and a Red Letter Day

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:31:39 -0500

Today, February 5th marks some important anniversaries for us.Six months ago today we learned that Darcy had a form of Acute Leukemia. She had been in the hospital for a couple of days at the time. Over the next few days we would learn more about the disease and the road that lay ahead for [...]

Modern Medicine and Family History

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 22:53:47 -0500

During a recent conversation with my Dad, we were talking about the hereditary proclivity toward long lives in our family tree. Dad is 77, and would be among the youngest in our family tree to die if he passed away tomorrow. Most lived into their eighties and many of my ancestors lived into their nineties. [...]

Update- Sunday

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 15:10:39 -0500

It’s been a week since I last updated this blog. Darcy remains in the hospital in Ann Arbor, though this morning Dr. Levine confirmed that she would be able to go “home” to the apartment tomorrow morning. We are currently searching for someone to stay with her each of the next few days.Since returning to [...]

URGENT Need for the coming week

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 12:51:03 -0500

Darcy will be released from the hospital tomorrow sometime- we don’t know when yet- and she will need somebody to drive her home and stay with her at the apartment. I am not able to go since I am apparently out of days to take off under FMLA, and I have used up all of [...]

Urgent Ann Arbor Caregiver Needed

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 22:13:55 -0500

We are in need of caregiver help for Darcy in Ann Arbor this weekend. At this time theyare not sure when she will be dischargedfrom the hospital, but it is looking like weneed coverage from Saturday pm (Jan 30) through next week. If you can coverthe weekend,please contact Darcy or Blaine directly as I will [...]

Mac(k)ing the Transition

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 19:08:01 -0500

Just how embedded is Windows in my cognitive process? This is an interesting question–and one that I will answer firsthand when my new Macbook Pro arrives in a week or two. I know that the right-click is a big part of the way that I operate online and offline. I may end [...]

New Macbook Pro Coming My Way (Hopefully)

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 08:16:02 -0500

Maybe it was the Wii. Something about the slick, user-friendly package and interface of the Wii may have finally pushed me to get a new Macbook instead of a Windows machine. Or maybe it was the disheartening prospect of another mid-level Dell laptop, running the problematic Windows Vista. Maybe it was how [...]

Saturday Morning-

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:05:24 -0500

This morning Doctor Perez saw Darcy and reported that there was no objective finding of graft vs. host, though the tests did show a significant amount of inflammation of her stomach and GI tract in general. They are beginning a course of steroids today that will help to heal the inflammation and hopefully allow her [...]

No News Yet

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:02:24 -0500

We haven’t heard any results of the GI scopes from earlier this week. We had hoped to learn something today, but maybe tomorrow. I’ll be at the hospital early in the morning in time for doctor’s rounds. If we learn anything I will post it as soon as I can. Please pray that the tests [...]

Opening Lines 2

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:31:17 -0500

A quick look at the opening lines from the books On Writing, The Time Traveler's Wife, and The Lightning Thief.

Back In the Hospital

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 23:00:00 -0500

Darcy had an appointment at the clinic today and Dr. Levine decided to admit her to the hospital and run some tests to see if they can determine the cause of her nausea, lack of appetite and diarrhea. She has continued to lose weight over the last few weeks and they are concerned about that. [...]

Turn Your Computer into a Streaming Media Server with Orb

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:11:18 -0500

Video is hard. Okay, pointing a camcorder at your nephews as they open yet another Star Wars Lego set is not hard. It’s what you do afterwards that gets challenging. In days before hard drive camcorders, you had to transfer your footage to your computer in real time, typically from a [...]

Urgent Ann Arbor Weekend Need

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:30:29 -0500

Hi everyone. Just heard from Darcy that Blaine is not able to make it over to Ann Arbor this weekend. We are needing someone to stay with Darcy from Saturday, 1.16.10 noon until Sunday, 1.17.10 at 5:00pm.Sound like something you are able to help out with? If so, please respond to this or email me [...]

A Lovely Winters Day

Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:46:18 -0500

Today was such a beautiful day, and I was reminded of this poem from Robert Frost:A Winter EdenA winter garden in an alder swamp,Where conies now come out to sun and romp,As near a paradise as it can beAnd not melt snow or start a dormant tree.It lifts existence on a plane of snowOne level [...]

The Wii Generation

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:33:40 -0500

I’ve got an old Atari 2600 and about 50 games sitting in my basement. Not too long ago, I hooked it up and played for a few hours with some 30-something friends. And as bad as the graphics are, the games were still fun to revisit, at least for a little while. [...]

Some of my Favorite Sites and Tools, 2009

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:27:26 -0500

It’s the end of the year, and, depending on how you count, the end of a decade. That means it’s time for a little reflection on things gone by. Cue Auld Lang Syne, and take a look at some of my favorite sites and services. Not all were created in 2009, but [...]

Library as Social Network, Version 2.0

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:31:45 -0500

Yesterday, I went to the first meeting of the library planning committee. The meeting was informative and inspiring: the new library, or more accurately the Mary Idema Pew Library and Information Commons, is going to be amazing. If you have not seen the video introducing the library, it’s worth taking a look:The SHW [...]

Best. Podcasts. Ever.

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 11:03:06 -0500

With apologies to the exceptional students in previous sections of my Teaching Literature course, I would say that the most recent batch of podcasts are the best to date. When I began the YA! Cast project in 2006, my students and I had roughly the same expertise with Audacity and other recording software. [...]

Writing about War and its Aftermath: Some Early Thoughts

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 20:51:40 -0500

My sabbatical proposal just entered the final stage of the approval process, which means that it will hopefully be granted sometime in the near future. If so, I will spend my sabbatical beginning to research and write the story of Josephine Tucker and her family. As I’ve written here before, Josephine is a [...]

More on Prezi: My Vampire Literature Course, Conceptualized

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:31:13 -0500

I’ve been fiddling with Prezi these last few days, and I’ve gotten to know the software pretty well. It has a few holes: it would be nice to have the “place” tool light up when it is selected; importing audio would be a plus; the line tool needs to be more sophisticated; and a [...]

One last thanks to Americas domestic heroes

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 23:13:51 -0500

The opportunity to blog, read articles, and read otherpeoples’, blogs over the past few months open my mind up to many of the unnoticed and unrecognizedstruggles that families of soldiers face. While I understood that having a loved one overseas was not an ease thing to deal with, I did not understand the complex emotions [...]

Determining the Setting of a Fantasy

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:19:09 -0400

As some of you know, I continuously attempting to begin a fantasy story that I have had turning over in my head for a good period of time. I’ve mentioned before how important opening lines are to me while writing, however something that is equally as important is the setting. Now, typically determining the setting [...]

Great Game Unless Youre a Wings Fan

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:29:44 -0400

Last night’s battle between the Penguins and Red Wings was a game that featured great hockey. It was one of the more physical games I have seen and while Pittsburgh outshot Detroit significantly over the first two periods the action really was back-and-forth. I’d actually even say that Detroit had as many chances, they just [...]

Shakespeare Imitation: So Low

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:14:40 -0400

An imitation poem in the style of Shakespeare's sonnets.

A Chance for the Cup

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:00:37 -0400

After a terrific showing Saturday night in which the Red Wings defeated the Penguins by a score of 5-0 in the game where Pavel Datsyuk returned, the Wings now have a chance to win the Stanley Cup again on Pittsburgh’s ice. This is a chance that the Red Wings need to capitalize on, as all [...]

All Even

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:00:47 -0400

Well, the Stanley Cup Finals between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins are all even. Both teams won both games at home. As anyone who was watching or listening (as was my case) saw/heard, there was a six minute meltdown by the Wings that allowed Pittsburgh to take control of a game that [...]

Opening Lines: 1

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:21:11 -0400

In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem [...]

Thoughts After Two Games

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 12:14:40 -0400

The Detroit Red Wings have beaten the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals by a score of 3-1. Rookie Justin Abdelkader who grew up in Muskegon (Michigan), played for MSU and the Griffins scored the third goal in each game. He has never scored in a regular season game. [...]

An Epic Series

Fri, 29 May 2009 10:25:05 -0400

The Detroit Red Wings will be playing the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Stanley Cup Finals, for the second straight year. It doesn’t get much better than this.Not only will Pittsburgh be looking to exact revenge against the Wings, but they’ll also be looking to prove Marian Hossa wrong. Hossa, who was with the Penguins last [...]

Edmonton Makes a Slick Move

Tue, 26 May 2009 18:42:52 -0400

The Edmonton Oilers have hired Pat Quinn as a head coach and Tom Renney and as associate per TSN. This is a great move for the Oilers, as they now have two coaches on staff that are head coach caliber. It could be a fun year for Oilers fans. [...]

A Midsummer Nights Dream Internet Resources

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 01:53:53 -0400

This page is designed for use in conjunction with a two-week lesson plan I designed, but the resources would likely fit in well with most any academic discussion of the play.Full Text Online‘No Fear Shakespeare’ Text Online(a note on this: generally speaking, I am philosophically opposed to the use of modern translation when studying Shakespeare [...]

Not so sweet surprise!

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:11:30 -0500

I apologize for my hiatus (I’m not sure who I’m apologizing to, as far as I know no one reads this…maybe to myself?) As a follow up to my post about High Fructose Corn Syrup, I have discovered why the Corn Refiner’s Association may have started that ad campaign. Check it.Just published online in the [...]

Cisco Kid was a friend of mine

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:55:21 -0500

I traveled to San Francisco to visit friends with my omnivore significant other this weekend. What a fabulous city. I wish I had had more time to see everything. I did get to see the “Full House” house, which pretty much fulfilled my childhood fantasies.So, I flew from Detroit to LA on Thursday, and then [...]

A Breath of Fresh Air

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:45:00 -0500

Ahthe perfect follow-up article to my previously expressed frustrations about less qualified teachers in inner-city schools. According to the article More Young Americans Volunteer to Teach in Needy Areas by Brian Padden, applications for Teach For America have increased by an amazing 36 percent! There are still people who are passionate about the success of [...]

Black Down, White UpStill Gapped

Fri, 26 Dec 2008 15:54:52 -0500

So here it is again: another article showing how the achievement gap between African American students and White and Asian Americans continues to grow. In the article Black Media Briefed on Achievement Gap for Black Students by Kenneth Kim posted in New America Media, the California Department of Education reports that African American students in [...]

Comments

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:32:40 -0500

http://flylikepaper25.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/fourteen-year-old-and-sex-education/#comment-16http://kennedad77.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/religion-in-the-classroom/#more-82http://blaine62.wordpress.com/2008/11/28/critical-thinking-and-writing/#respondhttp://blaine62.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/writing-as-a-means-to-clearer-thinking/#commentshttp://vanbeckj.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/those-who-cant-spell-teach/#commentsI CAN’T FIND THE REST OF MY COMMENTS, BUT I KNOW THAT I COMMENTED AT LEAST 10, IF NOT, 11 TIMES, BUT I CAN’T FIND THEM.

Closing Statement

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:31:00 -0500

When I started this blog I wasn’t sure that doing a blog about student athletes wouldn’t be as productive as other topics that my fellow students had come up with, but as I went alongI found out just how many articles are being written about them. Blogging was an experience that I didn’t think I [...]

My comments

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:44:01 -0500

I could only locate 9 of my comments. Im fairly certain I made another one or two but they seem to be lost.http://dustinmorley.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/a-sweet-escape/http://dibbleje.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/mccain-response-to-sex-education/http://coachk97.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/trying-to-fix-the-drop-out-rate-in-michigan/http://letsgetquiet.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/eslefl-institute/http://greenje.wordpress.com/2008/11/16/can-the-kindle-be-used-in-a-classroom/http://bostonk.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/school-for-breakfast/http://diezwiebel.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/nummer-zwei/http://angelalang6.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/unnoticeable/http://hubbardj87.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/online-reading-illiteracy-in-schools/

Comments

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:04:50 -0500

http://ehaveman05.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/is-korea-the-future-of-esl/http://hubbardj87.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/avoiding-laziness/http://coachk97.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/trying-to-fix-the-drop-out-rate-in-michigan/http://hubbardj87.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/illiteracy-all-around-us/http://laurensibula.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/teachers-hot-on-the-web/http://thebore4.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/how-young-is-too-young/http://griffin11.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/hello-world/

Concluding my Blogging Experience

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:35:37 -0500

So I can admit I was a little skeptical of this assignment when it was first given to me at the beginning of the semester. I was thinking to myself, great another thing that I am not going to have time for with work and school. There was also the whole technological side to [...]

Expanding Language Programs in Schools

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:27:14 -0500

An article written by Zain Shauk caught my attention, School may expand its language programs. He was reporting about an elementary school in California that offers German, Italian, as well as Spanish in their elementary school: Twenty-five kindergartners at Franklin Elementary already receive 90% of their instruction in German, and administrators are hoping to [...]

Are budget cuts really the best for Michigan schools?

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:02:36 -0500

While looking through the articles trying to find something that caught my attention, I decided to browse through news stories that where close to home. Now neither of these articles where very long, but each were very important to our community. These articles were found on Channel 3 news www.wwmt.com one spoke of [...]

Education in the new Obama administration

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:40:43 -0500

Educators, academics hopeful Obama administration will make changes to NCLBSo I know that my blog has been mainly focused on literacy and reading issues in schools, but I decided to take this entry a different direction. I found an article discussing President Elect Obamas plan for the No Child Left Behind Act. Being that [...]

Comments

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 23:34:09 -0500

http://kennedad77.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/religion-in-the-classroom/http://blaine62.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/teacher-pay-and-other-slippery-topics/http://coachk97.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/lack-of-funding-cancels-athletic-season/http://elbridgegirl.wordpress.com/2008/11/27/texting-in-the-classroom/http://vanbeckj.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/those-who-cant-spell-teach/http://makeitepic.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/act-a-crappy-test/http://letsgetquiet.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/everybody-abroad/http://naturalepidemic.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/i-have-a-mission-and-it-must-be-accomplished/http://sierraholmes.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/an-article-and-district-that-breaks-the-mold/http://ghannaml.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/a-bilingual-country/

Auf Wiedersehen!

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:12:38 -0500

I, for one, am experiencing no great shock at the coming of the end of this semester. Discussing these topics has been quite educational for me; the items that I have taken the space to discuss here have broadened my view of the world and my understanding of the role [...]

Und jetzt zu etwas Vllig Anderem

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:58:39 -0500

In a bit of uncommonly encouraging news given its location of origin, Muslims and Jews are creating a new initiative to work together in furthering education about one another in Israel. Given that these two groups have been at war with one another in one area or another for most [...]

All my genious thoughts

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 21:32:03 -0500

Comment 1: http://dibbleje.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/mccain-response-to-sex-education/#commentsComment 2: lost in the archievesComment 3: http://makeitepic.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/standarized-testing-for-kindergarten/#commentsComment 4: http://laurensibula.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/mctethe-way-to-be/#commentsComment 5: http://aker04.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/students-of-inclusion-would-like-security/#commentsComment 6: http://blaine62.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/the-utility-of-lists/#commentsComment 7: http://ehaveman05.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/language-is-power-power-is-white/#commentsComment 8:http://aker04.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/maybe-try-pals/#commentsComment 9: http://thebore4.wordpress.com/2008/11/30/colleges-introduce-an-alternative/#commentsComment 10: awaiting moderation

Comments

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 13:53:57 -0500

For Comments Click on page above

Comments

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:57:15 -0500

Comment 1Comment 2Comment 3Comment 4Comment 5Comment 6Comment 7Comment 8Comment 9Comment 10

Comments!

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:46:57 -0500

Comment 1Comment 2Comment 3Comment 4Comment 5Comment 6Comment 7Comment 8Comment 9Comment 10

Comments

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:23:42 -0500

To whom it may concern,For some reason my comments are sometimes labeled RachD1106 and some just say Rachel. I am assuming this is because I was logged off when I made some comments. For this reason I was unable to track all my comments through wordpress. I found ten comments and just linked them but [...]

Goodbye WordPress

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:23:04 -0500

I am not going to lie, I have hated every minute of having to blog. I am extremely uncomfortable with every aspect of it. I may be young but I feel like I missed the technology boom I still like to play on the original Nintendo. In fact, the first Mario has been kicking my [...]

Motivation

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:22:14 -0500

An article I found interesting was from the Craig Daily Press: Almost 140 students get credit forCSAP. The CSAP is Colorados assessment test for schools. What I found interesting was that by offering elective credit to students who scored accordingly on the test students were motivated to do well. The credits would not replace required [...]

Fighting Sex Trade

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 12:22:12 -0500

A recent U.N. survey estimated that 150 million girls and 73 million boys under age 18 were forced to have sexual intercourse or experienced other forms of sexual violence in 2002.As a prospective teacher, this statistic is alarming. The idea that kids are being traded in exchange for food is a terrible and true reality. [...]

High Stakes Testing

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:59:51 -0500

Both teachers and students are nervous about a new math test at Willmar Senior High. The state did away with the Basic Skills Test in math, a test students would take in eighth grade. Replacing it now is the Graduation Required Assessment for Diploma math test, which will be taken in the eleventh grade. According [...]

The AIDS fight at home

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:57:22 -0500

As we all know AIDS is an epidemic effecting ennumberable amounts of people globally today. What we don’t know is how it is effecting our own lives in the United States. Many people are focused on the overseas and third world country fights against the disease, but they lose sight of the fact that people [...]

TV shows affect viewers habits

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:38:34 -0500

When we were younger, most shows were focused on one or two characters, usually animnated, and their interactions with other people. Very seldom was sex alluded to or even mentioned. It seems that today more shows are featuring sex as a main theme of the show or even as a common issue at hand. Alarmingly, [...]

My Comments

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:27:36 -0500

The following are links to all of the comments that I have made on fellow classmates’ posts during the semester:Comment 1Comment 2Comment 3Comment 4Comment 5Comment 6Comment 7Comment 8Comment 9Comment 10

FCAT

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:10:07 -0500

The people that are harmed the most by standardized testing are ESL students and students from low income families. This is a well known fact because these tests are not geared towards these kids. While some students are told to dumb it down in order to score well on standardized tests most are just plain [...]

Repost: The Tip of the Iceburg

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 10:09:35 -0500

What a cliche to begin with… the reason I chose that particular phrase is because in this blog I am hoping to find some of the best ways to integrate technology (let it be gadgets, software or technique) into the secondary level English classes. This first post will hopefully start to shed some light.I am [...]

Stephen Greenblatt

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 07:29:01 -0500

Like every other person I remember learning Shakespeare in the most grueling way. In fact, I happened to have class with my cousin Lindsey. When we were reading Romeo and Juliet aloud our teacher assigned me the part of Romeo and her the part of Juliet. The class had field day with this. We are [...]

Cross Cultural Sexual Education Rising Problem

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:53:26 -0500

As a feminist, I find myself constantly looking for ways to improve the standing of women in the world. One thing I need to be aware of in my classroom is personal opinions of parents and students regarding my beliefs on feminism. While I think we are extremely familiar with the idea of cultural differences, [...]

emotional aspect of sex ed explored

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:11:50 -0500

As most adults are aware, kids can have many worries and concerns that they may not feel comfortable discussing with parents, teachers, or even peers. So what are these kids supposed to do? This article discusses the attempts of an English charity to curb that isolation.This charity relates to kids via a hotline they can [...]

Relationships start young in GB

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:51:00 -0500

In my middle school, we had a huge dispute in whether or not sex education should be mandatory at that level. Some parents had major concerns and even ended up taking their children out of school on the days that the class was taught to us. This article shows the advances, not only in thought [...]

National AIDS awareness

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:23:38 -0500

I think we all remember the AIDS awareness days in elementary school. I was in the “lucky” class that got to go to the AIDS rememberance quilt. Things like this let us know from a young age what is not only a frightening and all too real outcome. This article, by the American Free Press, [...]

The End to a New Beginning

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:03:51 -0500

Article after article I learned more and will take away even more. WAC, otherwise known as writing across the curriculum, is used in schools to help students improve their writing skills. This program utilizes many key ideas from allowing students to express themselves to giving students power over their knowledge. However, there are always negatives [...]

Goodbye blog?

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:50:48 -0500

Well, the semester has flown by and I find myself faced with a difficult decision: I must decide the fate of this blog. I could banish it from my life as punishment for being the cause of many a late night spent typing like a madwoman, but no. That wouldn’t be fair. I must take [...]

The Northwest Hopes to Fix a Problem

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:45:07 -0500

In an article submitted by the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, researchers are concerned that below average scores for student writing assessments needs to be addressed. For example in Oregon only 34% of eigth graders in 2004 achieved standards for the writing assessment. Fortunately, teachers across the area are being informed of a program that may [...]

The Multiple Benifits of WAC

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:13 -0500

I realize most everyone knows that writing across the curriculum enhances a student’s knowledge of that subject. However, Steve Peha explores some overlooked benefits of utilizing this program within a school system. He begins by stating five reasons: written output is a great way to assess student knowledge, writing is the essential skill students need [...]

We All Knew the Time Would Come

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:43:35 -0500

So as the semester begins to wind down, and by wind down I mean get crazy, so does this blog. Over the past three or so months I have been blogging with an educational technology focus and using Google Reader. Here are some closing thoughts:1. I don’t love Google Reader. It is great if you [...]

Simple Things That Could Go a Long Way

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:27:45 -0500

I’ve said it before, I love the English language. I love reading, I love writing, I can easily spend hours in a Library or Barnes and Noble just wandering around. I think that’s why something in an article in the Providence Journal caught my eye. The article started out by basically saying that instead of [...]

Fin

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:14:11 -0500

Well, I have to say that I was not thrilled about keeping a blog over this semester, but over all it was not that bad. It took up more time than I anticipated but it was a new experience and one that I am glad I’ve had. I think the most interesting thing for me [...]

Comments made by me

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:09:39 -0500

http://thebore4.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/how-young-is-too-young/http://makeitepic.wordpress.com/2008/09/04/standarized-testing-for-kindergarten/http://kennedad77.wordpress.com/2008/09/21/using-hip-hop-within-the-classroom/http://diezwiebel.wordpress.com/2008/10/20/the-necessity-of-religion-in-education/http://ghannaml.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/young-dreaming-of-living-abroad/http://carreli.edublogs.org/2008/09/21/how-can-teens-remember-literary-texts/#commentshttp://ehaveman05.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/language-is-power-power-is-white/#comment-16http://vanbeckj.wordpress.com/2008/10/21/those-who-cant-spell-teach/http://mwalimu23.edublogs.org/2008/11/30/esl-activities/#comment-25http://laurensibula.wordpress.com/2008/12/01/naked-snowboarding/#comment-21

Home schooling Mothers use WAC

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 23:00:11 -0500

WAC, meaning writing across the curriculum is being suggested to mothers that prefer home schooling. This idea is being presented as a shortcut, although most mothers would think otherwise. In fact Kautzer, the author of this article, states that it eliminates a entire subject focused on teaching writing. Instead, students can focus on writing in [...]

It Cant be all About the Money

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:57:36 -0500

This blog is supposed to be about High School student athletes, but I came across an article that concerned me a little bit. It is, however, an article about the University of Arizona and the Graduation Rates that they have with regard to their student athletes. The reason that I chose to go with the [...]

Winning isnt even in the top 10

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:54:37 -0500

I recently found an article on EBSCO that conducted a study of student athletes and what values they have learned by playing sports. Various age groups were tested and they kept track of the gender of those who were being surveyed. The survey tested what values the students exhibited by asking them a series of [...]

More news about Hartford!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:54:34 -0500

While skimming through all the articles on my newsfeed, I came across one with the name Steven J. Adamowski in the description. This name is familiar, I said to myself, I feel like I’ve written about him before. Imagine my suprise when I realized that yes, I have blogged about Steven J. Adamowski and his [...]

Im All About Tweeting in the Classroom!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:53:04 -0500

Well… this article did not manage to find its way to my feed. But I’m telling you I love it. I am probably showing my bias a bit, but who wouldn’t loving tweeting? Now obviously I’m not talking about making bird noises by myself… weird. The tweeting I’m talking about is leaving messages on Twitter.For [...]

A Good Decision

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:52:17 -0500

Finally a player with the good sense to have a fall back plan! Zeke Marshall is a young man who has been labeled one of the best basketball players in the nation and instead of going to a big school who sent letters that mostly talked up teams’ gaudy numbers, as in win-loss records, championships [...]

Everybody Abroad!

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:51:18 -0500

For my final article I found one in the New York Times that I found even more encouragement from. Hillary Chura, Wrote A Year Abroad (or 3) as a Career Move This article is fantastic, I found it comforting to know that there are more and more people going abroad for work. It made me [...]

Comments

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:49:11 -0500

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The End.

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:40:02 -0500

This has been an unusally rapid semester; it’s hard to believe it’s already winding down. And when I say winding, I really mean spiraling down, considering all the work I have to stuff in such a short amount of time. I’m sure the vast majority of my classmates are feeling the same kind of pressure. [...]

Pilot Testing System

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:20:47 -0500

In a recent article, published on Mooresville Tribune’s website, an experimental system is underway in the North Carolina public schools. For this school year 2008-09 state writing assessments have quadrupled, requiring students to undergo an aggressive writing program.As a result of changes adopted by the State Board of Education in June, fourth and seventh grade [...]

Separation of Church and State

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:11:06 -0500

In this age where polemics have replaced politics and one needs a good set of earplugs to avoid a sound dose of rhetoric when conversing with ones ideological opponents it seemed to me a good idea to discuss the separation of church and state (conveniently, it also seemed good to [...]

Number of ESL Students Growing Locally

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 22:05:33 -0500

In Muncie, Indiana, the number of ESL students at Northview elementary school continues to increase. The ESL teacher at the school, Karen McKinney, uses new and different techniques to engage their students into learning.McKinney repeats things often, sings lots of songs, and uses gestures, cards and books to teach her students. You engage the child,” [...]

Religiosity and Education

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:42:36 -0500

One of the most important questions in education is that of the efficacy of that very education. This question is addressed by Jeremy E. Uecker in the December 2008 issue of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion: Uecker analyzes the effect of Catholic, Protestant, non-religious private, home, and [...]

Global Perspective

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:33:57 -0500

I am going to jump to a slightly different, but still related topic for this post. I recently read an article called Global Perspective Development and how important it is. While there is no one definition of Global Perspective it is widely agreed upon that it is important. Essentially what Global Perspective is, is the [...]

Final Statment: I Hate No Child Left Behind

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:33:48 -0500

Well I had a lot of fun through this whole blogging experience. The topic I choose was one I am very passionate about, No Child Left Behind. When I started my blog I saw the No Child Left Behind act as simple a bad idea but now I feel I hate it with a passion. [...]

My Comments

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:09:20 -0500

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Elective Shock

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:41:17 -0500

Many schools in New York are bringing in a new wave of electives, focusing their efforts on classes that students will (GASP!) enjoy! But how could this be? Schools can’t afford to add electives with the economy like this, can they? And students shouldn’t look forward to going to school, should they? And electives couldn’t [...]

Comments

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:37:31 -0500

1. ESL Activities2. ESL/EFL Institue3. Let’s Get Quiet4. Intention5. A Bilingual Country6. Sex Ed7. Writing As a Means to Clearer Thinking8. Things to Keep in Mind9. Treading Water10. Avoiding Laziness

The Wrap-Up

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:02:03 -0500

What I learned from these writing activities was a greater awareness of the field that I am going into. When it comes to education, and especially education reform, everyone has an opinion, and discussions can easily dissolve into heated debates. Like everyone else, I like to think that my views represent [...]

I would like to move to the language house

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 20:00:00 -0500

Good news for those students hoping to teach English abroad someday! I have come upon yet another news article that makes me very happy. I think I have made it clear at this point that I have a great interest in teaching in France, but also in any other country. I would like to travel [...]

Crowded Rooms and Overloaded Teachers

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:47:49 -0500

At an Allegan school, one mother is worried that the large class size and overworked teacher is harming her child’s education. This 5th grade class currently has 32 students, and five of those are special-education students. After reading those numbers alone, I can already imagine how difficult it must be for the teacher to run [...]

Online Classes for High School Students

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:27:46 -0500

I will be straight-forward in my disapproval of Genesse County allowing high school students to be able to take online classes. For the most part I think it is absolutely ridiculous, harmful, and completely ignorant. I am sure that Vygotsky is turning in his grave right about now. There are just too [...]

School Dropout Rates Call for Vocational Programs

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:04:37 -0500

I chose to write about this article because I felt that it was a follow-up to two other articles that I had previously written. The theme that keeps popping up is that not every student is the same, and therefore needs a variety of choices when it comes to their own education. I [...]

Parent Teacher Conferences in Saginaw

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:34:54 -0500

Saginaw schools seem to run parent-teacher conferences a little more differently than most schools. I was surprised to see that in this case, it is the students who take a huge part in the parent-teacher conferences because they get to explain to their parents how they are doing in school. In some ways [...]

The End of the Road

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:30:02 -0500

It seems that my academic semester has come to a close as quickly as it began 15 weeks ago, and it is time for me to conclude this blog on my future ELL classroom; however, that is not to say that this marks the end of my journey of research and study in the world [...]

Recap of Comments

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 17:21:32 -0500

The following links will direct you, Professor Rozema (or anyone who for some reason might be interested in reading my comments…) to my responses posted on other classmates’ blogs Language in RwandaAn Inspirational StoryThe Necessity of Religion in Education Michigan Dropout Rates Call for ReformACT: A Crappy TestIntegration Formation Working Around Proposal 2?An Article-and [...]

Comment Post My Comments

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:31:41 -0500

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Bloggingquite the generative genre

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:31:32 -0500

Staying true to the genre motif we’ve repeatedly addressed in Professor Rozema’s ENG 310 class, I must say that I am a fan of the “blog genre.” I have gained quite a load of insight from reading dozens of articles, perusing interesting websites I’ve discovered, writing about issues that others have addressed on the Internet, [...]

Doing the math

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:25:56 -0500

I’ve always been an English girl. Any subject that involved reading and writing was okay by me. Now, when it came to things like math and science, especially math, you could count me out. Throughout middle and high school math class was always the thing I dreaded most. The massive amounts of numbers and crazy [...]

Beyond the Basics

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:46:43 -0500

I read an interesting article posted in the Washington Commentary titled, “Climb Out of the Five-and-Dime hole”. The article talks about schools “flying high” spending a lot of money trying to improve themselves to meet the needs of No Child Left behind. I found one quote quite interesting, it stated that “When a policy is [...]

A Caged Cheetah

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 13:20:45 -0500

With No Child Left Behind at the reigns, school districts focus a lot of their time and funding into the groups of students that are not yet proficient. Well then what happens to all of the gifted students? Essentially if a gifted student cannot get ahead then he/she feels like she is behind, or simply [...]

Certification for teaching 2nd language under debate

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:24:39 -0500

Should teachers of English language learners have ESL certification? That is the argument in Indiana. Many ESL teachers both in Indiana and other states do not have the proper certification to teach ESL, but does that mean they wouldnt make good teachers? Jeanne Taylor, a teacher at Franke Park elementary school in Indiana has spent [...]

Closing Statement a hodgepodge learning experience

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:02:39 -0500

My topic as a whole, never came together for me into a particularly unified idea. It started off meandering in areas like shakespeare and poetry, then it veered off into critical pedagogy and teaching practice and thats where it pretty much remains. Despite this lack of focus, I learned quite a bit about the educational [...]

ESL Activities

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 21:48:39 -0500

Over the past several days, I have perused multiple articles regarding teaching abroad and teaching ESL. While I can easily say that I’ve spent hours reading those articles, I must also admit that none of them appealed to me too much. I think it’s about time for a more upbeat read…and that’s why I’ve revisited [...]

Closing the Language Gap

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:42:08 -0500

I stumbled across an interesting article, entitled, “Can Roaring Fork Schools close the achievement gap?” that explains the steps taken at a Colorado School District to help merge the gap between their Anglo and Latino students. They had recorded a significant gap; although never stated exactly what percentage. This reminded me of performance scores that [...]

Gratis Bilingual Childrens Programming Available to TV Stations Nationwide Program Creator Answers Obamas Plea to Teach Kids Spanish

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:33:24 -0500

President-elect, Barack Obama, believes it necessary for children to speak Spanish. One fun way for them to learn is through Boca Beth. Boca Beth is a free bilingual program on the Education Channel that is both entertaining and will help children learn the language. Lucy Griggs, the program director for the Education Channel explains:Boca Beth’s [...]

No Golfers Left Behind

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 20:07:39 -0500

I have grown up my whole life on a golf course so the title of Jack Mckay’s article appealed to me. The name of his article is “Playing Golf Under Education Accountability Rules.” The article is basically a mockery of No Child Left Behinds accountability system. The idea is that we create a round score, [...]

Interview with an Unschooler

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:54:29 -0500

My post about unschooling elicited a response from an unschooler. I was excited to have the chance to talk to her, so I asked her to answer some questions about what her life is like. She, Idzie, gave some very thorough answers:1. How old are you currently?Nearly 18.2. As a high school-aged unschooler, what is [...]

Columbia Public Schools sees increase in number of English-language learners

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 19:16:56 -0500

Columbia Public school district in Colombia, MO is seeing a large increase in English language learners in its schools. District coordinator of the ELL and social studies programs, Jenifer Albright-Borts, said that the number of ELL students has increased from 138 to 618 students since she started working there in July.This increase is good for [...]

Is Korea the Future of ESL?

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:40:50 -0500

So far, I have really explored different techniques and issues that will be present in my future classroom as an ELL teacher. However, ESL is not just taught her in West Michigan, or even the expanded United States. No. Rather, English has become a global language to many–including Korea. Korea has a native language: Korean. [...]

Out on the Job: An ELL Director Gives Me Some Pointers

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:58:23 -0500

Im sad to say that my busy life kept me from attending the MTCE conference. It sounded like an experience that would have given my teaching dreams a jump start toward the future. Instead, I found myself watching Dora the Explorer with my almost-3-year-old after a long day at work. Happily, I had the opportunity [...]

Personalized Learning

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 16:26:40 -0500

Personalized Learning. It was a technique popularized by Tony Blair during his 2004 makeover of the public educaiton system in the UK. this idea helped transition between the strict curriculum that had previously been institutued to a more creative teacher led classroom. However, this idea itself had little meaning. It couldnt even really be defined [...]

Writing to Understand: My Concluding Thoughts

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:26:46 -0500

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.Joan DidionThe significance of thoughtful writing should never go underestimated. Over the last few months my mind has been opened up to new ideas and new issues. Through reading [...]

Religion in the Classroom

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:18:34 -0500

A few days ago I was having dinner with a couple of friends that happen to be opposites in every way. I usually hesitate getting them together, but it couldn’t be avoided. One of them purposely antagonizes the other and likes to watch as I try and diffuse the situation and make everything “all better” [...]

Colleges Introduce an Alternative

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:05:07 -0500

While standardized tests consume the K-12 curriculum as well as college entrance requirements, there is still opposition to the implication of these tests. In fact, several colleges across the country do not require college entrance exams for acceptance into the college. Instead, these colleges look to grades, projects, and extra-circular activities to decidewhich studentsare best [...]

There are Two Sides to Every Issue

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:54:08 -0500

As I wasreviewing the blogs that I have written thus far, I noticed a trend that all of my posts follow. While it is no secret that I do no support standardized testing for various reasons, I think that that it is important to explore both sides to an issue. Therefore, despite my disapproval of [...]

Education and Economy

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:19:53 -0500

Related to my last post of Rwanda abandoning French being taught in schools for economic reasons (although angering the French was an added bonus) I started thinking about how economy can dictate and control the flow of education. I started looking for articles that spoke to this change. For a while now countries have been [...]

Feels like it just vegan

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 18:58:02 -0500

This semester flew by; I can’t believe it’s over. I am surprised by how much I have gotten out of my blog. I think it is a great way to create a community of people united by a common topic. It enables you to learn about those topics prevalent to you through people who are [...]

The End is Near

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 11:21:29 -0500

Well, it’s the day after Thanksgiving, which means that the semester is almost over. As the semester comes to a close, and ENG 310 comes to an end, it is now time to reflect on my blogging experience.First up for discussion is what I have learned about my topic. I entered into this project with [...]

TESL Enticement?

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:04:12 -0500

A forum at www.esl-jobs-forum.com just made its way to my RSS feed, and caught my attention fairly quickly. The survey topic I came across was: “Why do you want to teach abroad?” As I read the question, I immediately considered my own reasons for interest. I want to teach abroad because I love working [...]

A Lesson in Economics

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 11:19:55 -0500

I recently read the article ‘Playing the Market’ Gets New Meaning at Schools by Jennifer Buske in the Washington Post. This article discussed a way of using computers in the classroom that concerns the simulation of a real-world situation, in this case the stock market. This article talked about the Stock Market Game. According to [...]

Texting in the Classroom

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:18:49 -0500

Lots of people use their cell phones to send text messages. (Personally, I’ve never done it, and I don’t really find it very appealing, but that’s me.) Texting in the classroom, however, is usually outlawed.Despite this fact, I recently read an articleabout classrooms that do just the opposite and require their students touse texting in [...]

Reflections

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:16:29 -0500

It’s hard to believe that it’s already the end of the semester. When did that happen? It’s strange to think that I’ve almost completed my last “normal” semester before Teacher Assisting, and it’s even stranger to think about all the teaching tools I’m familiar with now that I’d never really thought about until a few [...]

School for Breakfast

Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:15:08 -0500

With the introduction of highly portable “Grab and Go” breakfast items, it seems like no one has time for breakfast anymore.As we all know, eating breakfast is beneficial for your health. And yet, kids today are not getting breakfast for a variety of reasons ranging from no time in the morning to parents unable to [...]

Wikis and Writing

Wed, 26 Nov 2008 13:50:10 -0500

I recently read a post on the blog Digital Writing, Digital Teaching by Troy Hicks that talked about his trip tothe NWP/NCTE 2008 conference.What caught my eye in thisblog post was the mention of wikis, which I actually had to do a project about for my ED 205 class that I took over the summer. [...]

Dairy Pushers and Freedom of Expression in Schools

Sat, 22 Nov 2008 22:30:59 -0500

My Google Reader snared an article that caught my eye today. An art teacher by the name of Dave Warwak was fired from Fox River Grove Middle School. Apparently he was teaching the students about being kind to animals using a:“collective art lesson in which a number of students and teachers created and cared for [...]

SNA Releases Back to School Nutrition Trends Report

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:00:56 -0500

Through Ebsco I found an article that reviews the findings of the School Nutrition Association’s 2008 Back to School Nutrition Trends Report. It records the ways that school lunches are getting healthier, what options schools are considering healthy, etc. I was curious to see the findings. This year it looks like whole grains were a [...]

Californias Integrated Language Arts

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:51:03 -0500

As of November 7, 2008 the California State Board of Education has approved a new integrated curriculum by Pearson for reading. This vote was unanimous as reported by PR Web (Press Release Newswire). This new curriculum is specially designed for the state of California. Since there are approximately 1.5 million English language learners speaking over [...]

Can the Kindle be used in a classroom?

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 17:22:31 -0500

There are some people who believe that a product like the Kindle is unnecessary or excessive. I will admit, reluctantly, that at one time I belonged to this camp. But the more I read and hear about the Kindle, the more I get excited. There are so many ways that this could become a staple [...]

Standardized Testing and Economic Division in America

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 14:00:41 -0500

What are standardized tests actually measuring? Are they measuring the competence and critical thinking level of a student, or are they simply another way to divide the rich and the poor? These are some hard questions to ask. When it comes to standardized testing society desires to see it as a clean, clear, and non-bias [...]

Chose Your Words Wisely

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:57:25 -0500

An article that I found extremely interesting says it all in the title, What a difference a word makes. The subtitle being, Assessment for learning rather than assessment of learning helps students succeed.This is the point I have been trying to get at. We cannot just use assessment as a measuring stick of what students [...]

What is Assessment

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 11:28:24 -0500

As I surfed the web looking at different articles on assessment, struggling to find one that I thought was interesting enough to blog on, I came across wikipedia. Most people know what wikipedia is but for those of you that do not wikipedia as their tagline says is a free encyclopedia. It can be found [...]

Single-Sex Ed Takes Hold in South Carolina : NPR

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:35:36 -0500

via Single-Sex Ed Takes Hold in South Carolina : NPRSingle-sex ed takes hold in South CarolinaOriginally I was not planning on blogging on this particular subject, but because it effects how we look at sex education in general, I think it is a worth while endeavor.I was listening to NPR’s show All Things Considered and [...]

Kids really do know how to spell you

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 16:31:16 -0500

As somewhat of a technology enthusiast, I love hearing about new gadgets and technologies from Geekbrief.tv and others. This isn’t necessarily about wonderful new gadgets, but Chris Pirillo discussed the necessity for basic spelling and grammar on the internet on October 13, 2008. There is a link to Chris Pirillo’s blog entry at the end [...]

An Article and District that Breaks the Mold

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:43:18 -0500

Ever since I began tracking articles about writing assessment earlier this fall, my feed reader has been inundated by headlines about schools and districts taking steps to improve their students’ scores on state-wide writing tests. At this point, I could probably write them by myself: Concern Over Student Performance on Last Year’s (insert state writing [...]

Beyond the Classroom and Into the Streets

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:45:37 -0500

Although as a future ELL teacher, I will mostly encounter students who need to learn English. They have an origin, and for many of them that origin does not speak English either. Most ELL’s come from families who migrated to the U.S. mere days before entering the classroom. That being said, their studies aren’t the [...]

Sins Against the School Board

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:40:47 -0500

This video is from this past June, but I saw it just the other day and I wanted to address the issue. The story is very interesting, so I encourage anyone reading this to watch the video I’ve included below. For those of you who would rather not, I’ll summarize: high school teacher Connie Hearman [...]

Responding to Student Writing: Gross to Close

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:40:40 -0500

My “Teaching Writing: Secondary” professor recently assigned an article that instantly won my approval. The article by Nancy Sommers, entitled “Responding to Student Writing”, discusses the tendency for teachers to overload and confuse students with the “expert comments” they jot throughout the students’ papers.All too often, writers and revisers overlook the fact that writing [...]

Lessons from a second language writer

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 17:03:01 -0500

At the core of the study of writing assessment is the question of what and how we should actually be assessing. Should we focus on meaning over “correctness,” correctness over meaning, or both equally? And what impact does our choice have on our students? In Writer Identity and ESL Learners, Linda A. Fernsten uses a [...]

I dont get it.

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 21:41:06 -0400

At the risk of beating a dead horse (ok, I’ll admit that at this point it’s more of a reality than a risk), I just have to point out the article that I came across yesterday. It was the title, “Maine Looks to Cut Standardized Writing Tests,” that first drew me in. A state getting [...]

Alternative Testing

Mon, 27 Oct 2008 21:42:03 -0400

There is a problem with the way that students are assessed in most schools. Students with high grades are not necessarily learning the information any better than students with lower grades.What some students practice is what I call regurgitation. You do minimal work throughout the semester then when it comes time for a quiz or [...]

Blogging Expanded my World!

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:24:33 -0400

My blogging topic on NCLB opened my eyes to see that we as a nation are failing our future generations. Many articles I read gave me a feeling that there is nothing that teachers can do to help there students overcome the mechanical structure that is set up in classrooms across the nation. From this [...]

There is no Way for NCLB to Suceed!

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:40:53 -0400

The NCLB act has not lived up to the expected ambition which was an endeavor to have one hundred percent of students proficient in academic areas by the year 2014. Because of the continuing troubles within many school districts with NCLB some researchers decided it would be ideal to test the theory to see if [...]

Good? or Bad?

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:30:35 -0400

NCLB has gotten a bad outlook and results from many school districts from the beginning of its implementation. However, not all schools are having the problem that the majority of school districts are having with NCLB, or it seems. The Salt Lake Tribune, reports that the state of Utah schools has gained five percent in [...]

MCTE Conference Review

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 20:20:28 -0400

On Friday, October 2, 2008, I attended the Michigan Council of Teachers of English Conference. I greatly enjoyed the experience and I found it to be quite enlightening in many ways. When I first entered the large packed conference room I was filled with a rush of fear. I believe [...]

fourteen year old and sex education

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 00:50:26 -0400

I have found that there is a thin line of what is acceptable behavior in school. Today we find that there are different things going on in schools than from the time even we, as college students, experienced. This is not the first instance of an out- of- school incident has had repercussions in the [...]

Fundamentalism and Textbooks

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 20:51:12 -0400

The bane of discussing religion (or politics) in an educational setting is dealing with fundamentalists. (For a definition of fundamentalists, I will turn to Richard Dawkins, the noted Atheist. Dawkins calls fundamentalist those who are impervious to opposition to their beliefs in the face of reasonable arguments and empirical evidence.) [...]

Making a difference in our own communities

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:40:27 -0400

In news from Western Michigan University, it has been declared that WMU researchers have been awarded a four million dollar grant to help preschool aged children with their reading skills. The idea is to have these children ready to read by the time they reach elementary school. Dr. Esther Newlin-Haus is the project director as [...]

Those who cant spell, teach

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:39:38 -0400

This phrase caught my eye as I was looking through new articles for my blog. I am sure that by my title alone I have chosen to focus my blogs on literacy in schools, but I never though I would find an article like this. According to an article posted by The Times in the [...]

Stephen Greenblatt on Cultural Mobility

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:38:35 -0400

As I am a student of a foreign language, Spanish, as well as a student of literature, I found this event very intriguing to attend. Stephen Greenblatt is one the most respected writer when it comes to Shakespeare. He was written books, and studied much of Shakespeares works as well as history, but what Greenblatt [...]

Schooling the Unschoolers

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:36:11 -0400

Here is an interesting concept: unschooling. It is similar to that of home schooling, except that it is less rigid. . . as if home schooling was rigid! Unschooling is basically education that the student decides to partake in; parents take advantage of “teachable moments”. If little Johnny asks a question, Mom and Dad run [...]

Shaking up Shakespeare

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:22:29 -0400

The Topic for Today: Cultural MobilityI was introduced to this concept at a lecture I attended in September. The featured speaker was a scholar by the name of Stephen Greenblatt. Greenblatt coached us on the idea of “rewriting Shakespeare”. It makes perfect sense; Shakespeare himself molded some of his works based upon the works of [...]

$5000 per classroom

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 10:37:23 -0400

So I was looking for ways to include new technology that is emerging in classrooms today. I had heard that tablets were making their way into classrooms more and more. I know that these cost a lot of money, more specifically to the tune of $10,000. So I was interested in seeing how some schools [...]

Home Is Where the Heart [of Learning] Is

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:25:35 -0400

I can only complain about standardized testing so many times before the steam runs out. Therefore, I feel no shame in straying a little from my predetermined subtopic. I am still following the same theme of “promoting intellectual curiosity” though, so fear not. The subject today: home schooling.My inspiration comes from a high school-aged friend [...]

Working Around Proposal 2?

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:18:17 -0400

In the last class session we talked about the affects of minority enrollment in Grand Valley after proposal 2 passed in 2006, and I thought that this article would be a perfect follow up to that discussion. The article Minority Enrollment Falls at U-M by Marisa Schultz reported in The Detroit News, shows that Grand [...]

Michigan Dropout Rates Call for Reform

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:03:26 -0400

One of my earlier posts dealt with the idea of “reinventing high schools” in terms of curriculum and how and what students are being taught. With the 20,000 estimated dropouts this year Michigan, educators are debating on how schools need to be reformed or improved to prevent more dropouts. The huge dropout rates [...]

Language is Power, Power is White

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:56:19 -0400

Every time I see a fat ‘C’ on my Spanish test, I’m reminded how much easier it would have come to me if I was 5, and not 23. I joke to my classmates that my 2-year-old daughter has retained more Spanish by watching Dora, than I have in two years of Spanish classes. While [...]

Trying to Fix the Drop Out Rate in Michigan

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:52:02 -0400

An article titled “Granholm calls for action on dropout rate” caught my eye today when trying to find more articles on student athletes in the community. I began reading and decided that I would go in a different direction than normal with this post. The reason being that I had been hearing about the [...]

The Underground Railroad Conference: Christopher Paul Curtis

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:31:07 -0400

Attending the Underground Railroad Conference was definitely a great experience for me. I never considered that something like the Underground Railroad could spark a literary movement. More specifically, the session with Christopher Paul Curtis gave me different ideas for books to teach in my classes, or at least the type of literature that I could [...]

Great Follow Up to Mount Vernon Schools

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 08:14:20 -0400

Since I posted the blog about budget cuts in schools there has been a follow up article written about how the school in Mount Vernon, N.Y. is doing. As the previous article statedMount Vernon had cut all $1.1 million dollars that went to their athletic program. This new article talks about how the community [...]

Cultural Mobility Lecture By Stephen Greenblatt

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 07:45:07 -0400

Though, Mr. Greenblatt spent time on a variety of issues dealing with Cultual Mobility in his lecture Wednesday night (Sept. 24), I will be writing mostly about his idea of creating Shakespeare texts for a new generation. When I was in High School this is all I could think about when learning Shakespeare, “Why [...]

MCTE Conference in Lansing

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:37:28 -0400

I really wish I could have attended the first half of the conference but do to a Physics Lab I couldn’t get out of I was forced to attend the latter sessions. However, I’m not complaining because this conference was by one of the most informative and eye opening experiences. Not only did I gain [...]

Acting White

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:22:37 -0400

The article Whats it Mean to Act White? presented in NEA Today was disappointingly brief, but it tackles a major issue in urban schools, especially in the self perception African American students. The article reported the findings of a study done by Urban Education that many gifted African American students consider things such as getting [...]

The great debate

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 01:10:01 -0400

An important part of any school should be the activities they have to offer the students. My high school had a ridiculous amount of clubs to join. Seriously, we had everything from the food club to the native american club, the robotics club to the puppetry club. You name it, we probably had it. Clubs [...]

Language in Rwanda

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:47:28 -0400

My last post was on the controversy that English education is causing in Australia. It started to get me thinking about how an English education is approached in other countries. Then I discovered this article, written by Gwynne Dyer, titled The Unstoppable Rise of the English Language. Dyer writes about how Rwanda is forgoing French [...]

ESL/EFL Institute

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:54:16 -0400

I recently found an article on the Hawaii Pacific University website that simply made my day. It is once again dealing with teaching English as a Secondary or Foreign language. The Hawaii Pacific University was given a grant of $472,000, to improve the programs for teaching English as a language, as well as hosting [...]

MCTE, suprising to say the least

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:22:26 -0400

I have to say I was less than pleased when I found out that we not only had to go to a conference for English 310, but when I found out that it would cost money its safe to say that I was a bitannoyed. I was planning to attend one of the several free [...]

Some things to consider about teaching abroad

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 23:20:56 -0400

If you have read any of my other entries you may have noticed my interest in studying and teaching abroad. Since I enjoy the idea so much I wanted to look into what could be good and bad about teaching abroad. I knew that there were of course benefits like traveling and enjoying [...]

All about Bill.

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 22:50:47 -0400

I think William Shakespeare is absolutely wonderful, I really do.I discovered this my freshman yearof high school when my English teacher had us read Romeo and Juliet. I fell in love with it immediatly. In fact, it was the only piece of literature I read completely in that class. Normally, and as an English major [...]

A great step forwardI think.

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:58:16 -0400

As I type this I’m trying to remember what I was like in elementary school. Did I enjoy learning? I think I did, at least I hope so. But did I want school to take up every single waking moment of my day? Probably not. I think rattling off multiplication tables in line for the [...]

The System is Flawed

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:56:54 -0400

The problem is not that the school is failing to improve. It is improving! The problem is not that the teachers are ineffective. They are effective! The problem is not that the school administrators fail to use data to make informed decisions about curriculum and instruction or that they fail to monitor results. They do! [...]

Teaching the Test: What this Means for the Secondary Writing Curriculum

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:35:57 -0400

Most people who are in the educational field or who are aspiring to one day become an educator have heard about the concept of teaching the test. While this idea is often thrown around amongst educators and administers, I cant help but question what this actually means for schools. Does teaching the test negatively impact [...]

Cultural Mobility

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:24:11 -0400

A few weeks ago I dreadfully drove to Grand Rapids to go to a lecture for my English class. I assumed that like most lectures that it would be boring. I figured I would bide my time in my own thoughts while some man went on in a monotone voice. This was not the case [...]

The Necessity of Religion in Education

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:22:43 -0400

Stephen C. Ainlay makes some excellent points in his discussion of the role of educating students about religion in his October 11 editorial featured in the Albany (NY) Times Union. Ainlay, the president of Union College in Schenectady, NY, discussed the importance of being aware of many religious traditions in [...]

Shakespeare: Culturally Sound, the Whole World Round

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:47:41 -0400

I recently attended a lecture at GrandValley State Universitycalled “Cultural Mobility: The Strange Case of Shakspeare’s Cardenio“, by Stephen Greenblatt, a professor at Harvard University who specializes in Shakespeare. Greenblattco-authored a “Shakespearean work” based on the lost play Cardenio in order to emphasize the idea that Shakespearean techniques are applicable throughout time and various cultural [...]

The Muslims are learning from Papists!

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:34:06 -0400

Im always quite curious to hear unusual examples of the role of (private) religious, and particularly Catholic, schools in educating students who are outside of the targeted demographic (i.e. non-Catholics, non-Christians, etc.). Thus, it was with some intrigue that I read Katrin Bennholds September 29 article in the New York [...]

Textless Teaching

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:18:58 -0400

My mind is still set on the account of the teacher who traveled to Cameroon and had to teach without textbooks, as I previously mentioned. I started to search for ideas for teaching without textbooks, and as usual, the internet provided me with some insight. Unfortunately, a lot of this insight is only applicable to [...]

Video games in the classroom?

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 20:16:39 -0400

I recently read two articles on the New York Times website about how video games can be incorporated into the classroom. The one that I will be focusing on is “The Future of Reading – Using Video Games as Bait to Hook Readers” by Motoko Rich. In the article,Rich talks about manydifferent ways that people [...]

Q & A with the School Nutrition Association

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 19:48:02 -0400

I decided to try an Ebsco search for a more academic based topic this time. I found a really interesting interview in the American School Board Journal: Q &A with Katie Wilson, president of the School Nutrition Association - “a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to [...]

Underground Railroad

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:49:35 -0400

For my professional development conference, I decided to go to the Underground Railroad Conference at GVSU. I saw two speakersKimberly Simmons and Christopher Paul Curtis. Both speakers were completely different than the other but I really enjoyed them both. Kimberly Simmons is a descendent of Caroline Quarlls. She began by asking how much we actually [...]

Reinventing High Schools

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:09:13 -0400

In many of my college classes I have found that there are always some students who complain about not being taught certain criteria in high school classes. I often hear the same comment over and over about how this or that high school teacher didn’t know what he or she was talking about, and that [...]

Non-Bias Testing: Does it Exist?

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:44:18 -0400

At the beginning of the 20th century standardized tests were created to ensure that success was based on a persons abilities rather than his social status. The original purpose of standardized tests was noble and helped to ensure an opportunistic America. While in the beginning standardized testing served a purpose in creating an equal America, [...]

Children Not Left but Relationships Are

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:18:26 -0400

These days, “I’m no longer making relationships,” with students. “They are just little bodies I need to get assessed on the test.” These are the words of Tracy Dragos a fourth grade teacher from Irving Elementary. Dragos argues that No Child Left Behind is the reason why past students are no longer coming back to [...]

Critical Literacy- Australian Controversy

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 23:49:32 -0400

Something very interesting is happening in Australia. Educators are debating how to most effectively revise their national English curriculum. Australian English curriculum is currently centered around the idea of critical literacy, but this may soon change. Many are pushing for modifications in English curriculum, and the topic has received a lot of attention in the [...]

Writing Matters

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:32:25 -0400

What is the importance of writing a history paper or science paper or even better yet, a math paper? Isn’t it the job of the English teacher to educate students on writing? So why do all teachers need to implement writing now? To put it plain and simple, writing matters. Students are required to write [...]

Shakespeare in the Secondary Classroom

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 20:14:40 -0400

I think that it is safe to say that the study of William Shakespeare and his work is one of the most dreaded units by high school students. Even when students are able to overcome the language barrier, many are unable to pick up on the satire and complex plots that many of his plays [...]

Multicultural literature Canon Criticism

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 19:24:35 -0400

Multicultural literature is a topic we have discussed in class, and one that is a key component of critical pedagogy. When students are able to relate to the literature they are reading and learning about it makes them more interested and more likely to embrace the the curriculum. It can be quite difficult to relate [...]

The Hot Dog Wars

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 18:58:36 -0400

There is a war going on, right on your television screen. No, it’s not Obama vs. McCain. It’s target is…hot dogs? A new organization, the Cancer Project is causing some major controversy over it’s new Protect Our Kids,T.V. spot. They are urging the USDA to remove hot dogs (and other processed meats) from school lunches. [...]

How they got here: Reclassification and the ELL losers

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 17:18:38 -0400

Having grown up in Zeeland, MI, neighboring city to the famous Dutch Dancers of Holland, I was very sheltered from the ELL epidemic when attending grade school. Therefore, when I began to see the number of enrolled ELL students in the past 5 yearssince my graduating high school, I was eager to learn how to [...]

The Underground Railroad in Michigan Conference

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 16:39:48 -0400

On Friday, September 26, I attended The Underground Railroad in Michigan: A Decade of Discoveries Conference at Grand Valley State University. I attended Sessions A and C and and saw part of Keynote Speaker Karolyn Smardz Frost’s presentation, as well as that of Christopher Paul Curtis.In the morning on Friday, I first attended Session A [...]

Narrative Evaluations

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 14:43:36 -0400

How do students react when teachers don’t grade? That’s the question Dr. Sylvia Bagley wanted to answer when she embarked upon a two-year study of student perceptions of the alternative evaluation system in place at a local high school. The school, referred to in the study by the pseudonym “Progressive Secondary School,” is a relatively [...]

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 12:17:59 -0400

Throughout the history of the school system, students have always found ways tocheat at their assignedtasks. Taking a peak at their neighbor’s paper,hiding answers up asleeve, writing answers on the desk,etc. One thing that it has always been a little harder to cheat on, however, is writing.Students can pull an essay off ofthe internet, but [...]

What is WAC?

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 15:25:09 -0400

WAC otherwise known as, Writing Across the Curriculum, was established in the 80’s in response to the high illiteracy rate of students entering college. Since then educator’s started implementing writing strategies into their curriculum, whether it was used for learning or as a discipline. As Melissa Kelly states:Fortunately, as teachers in various disciplines have added [...]

Assessing (Hand)writing

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:50:08 -0400

It’s no big secret, at least not to teachers, that standardized tests don’t measure what they’re supposed to measure (why politicians and test writers refuse to understand that remains a mystery to me, although I’m quite certain money has something to do with it). I’ve always known that to be true, but “Pupils with Poor [...]

Making Individual Choices

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 06:29:27 -0400

From an individual school district stand point, I think it is important to set distinctive goals based on the districts environment and its residents. I think that setting separate, yet achievable goals is what is important for schools because all schools do not need the same scale for achievement. There are so many outside factors [...]

Tractable Teaching

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:36:03 -0400

I just finished reading an intriguing article that threw me back into the heart of Africa. I imagined myself teaching with a few ancient textbooks, or no textbooks at all, in jam-packed classrooms like those I visited in Uganda. The concept of teaching abroad is, well, a broad topic….pun intended…the opportunities, adventures, and nightmares awaiting [...]

Should there be different Standards?

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 09:56:55 -0400

No Child Left Behind has tougher, more difficult standards to reach year after year. However it is extremely difficult for schools to reach these goals if the students fail the previous year, which means the teachers and students have twice as hard to reach Adequate Yearly Progress goals. This endeavor is extremely difficult when districts [...]

From the Mouth of a Scholar

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:08:47 -0400

I was extremely priveledged to attend a lecture on Grand Valley State University’s Pew campus by Stephen Greenblatt. If you don’t know who he is, he has written “Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare” and is a pioneer of New Historicism.I was really interested in this speaker coming to Grand Valley for a [...]

the fight to bring back newspaper and yearbook classes

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 14:07:49 -0400

Well, I suppose that I am extraordinarily biased on this specific suject, but it is only because I am so passionate about yearbook. I was on the yearbook staff at Holland High School for the three years I was eligible. My first year I was a general staffer choosing photos, writing captions and writing articles. [...]

Christopher Paul Curtis

Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:00:19 -0400

The Underground Railroad Conference of Michigan held at Grand Valley State University was one of the most enlightening experiences that I have had since attending this school. I had the opportunity to have an in-depth and more personal look at the Underground Railroad, its contributors, its survivors, predecessors, and its successors. One of the most [...]

Underground Railroad in Michigan A Teaching Opportunity

Sun, 12 Oct 2008 19:31:44 -0400

I attended The Underground Railroad in Michigan – A Decade of Discoveries Conference at GVSU’s Pew Campus last weekend. The session I found to be applicable and engaging to my future classroom was: “Underground Railroad History for the Public: Tours and Museums”, and featured panelists Donna Odom, Reverend Lottie Jones-Hood, Dona Stokes-Lucas, and Michael Evans.I [...]

MCTE

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:04:33 -0400

I really wish the person who decided to schedule the vice presidential debate the night before the annual MCTE conference would’ve reconsidered. It would’ve been much easier to pry myself out of bed at five am on Friday if I hadn’t stayed up to listen to Senator Biden and Governor Palin on Thursday. That said, [...]

Sex in School

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:16:22 -0400

After reading this article, I was left with many conflicting feelings about what should and should not be allowed in public school settings. On one level, this article explains the role of teen pregnancy not only as a serious problem, but also as a preventable occurrence. While many seem to dispute this fact, they also [...]

Assumptions of Classroom Assessment

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:50:14 -0400

An article I found concerning classroom assessment had a list of several different assumptions made when facing the issue of assessment. These assumptions were:Assumption ONEThe quality of student learning is directly, although not exclusively, related to the quality of teaching. Therefore, one of the most promising ways to improve learning is to improve teaching.Assumption TWOTo [...]

Read-alouds show success in the ELL Classroom:

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:24:33 -0400

When ESL students are given the opportunity to sit back and listen to a piece of English literature read aloudwith the intended intonation and pausesstudents have shown a greater understanding of the literature presented to them. Alejandra Varela, an ESL teacher in New Jersey, decided to read Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe to her [...]

Service Learning: A MUST-HAVE ESL Technique

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 11:15:55 -0400

First, I feel I should define service learningas even I was unaware of this technique. Service learning refers to a teaching method that seeks to enrich learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities which Natalie found link the task to self-reflection, self-discovery (1). Basically, Natalie gave her students the opportunity [...]

Stepping into ELL Shoes

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 10:36:24 -0400

I recently found an article on the EBSCO database called “Developing Empathy and Strategies for Working with English Language Learners”, by Gay N. Washburn, PhD, who teaches in the College of Education at Northern Kentucky University. In the opening, the author mentions that when he asks teachers how their ELL students are doing and [...]

Starting With the Basics

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:48:40 -0400

As I am going to be a high school teacher I also find it very important to pay attention to the basic skills that are taught before they reach the high school level. Many problems with reading and writing can be caught and at times helped if the right steps are taken. In the article [...]

Is it my job to teach reading as a high school teacher?

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:14:40 -0400

Is it my job to teach reading as a high school teacher? This is a question many high school English teachers find asking themselves. More and more students are arriving to high school without the basic reading and writing skills, and those that say they can read cannot comprehend nor explain what they read. Christine [...]

Bridging the SAT GAP

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:13:25 -0400

Though Im not a fan of standardized testing (I think they are biased and not a very good way to measure student intelligence), I do realize that standardized tests, such as the SAT, are used in considering college admissions. In the article County’s SAT Scores Fall Again as Racial Gap Grows by Daniel de Vise [...]

Michigan Merit Exam

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:06:25 -0400

Across the state it seems that the scores on the Michigan Merit Exam are rising and that students are reaching higher levels of proficiency. The article claims that parents and students are realizing that doing well in high school and on tests such as the MME(Michigan Merit Exam) is important to proceed to college [...]

Lack of Funding cancels Athletic Season

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:45:45 -0400

It is a sad day when the economy has gotten so bad that the only thing left to cut back on in a schools budget is the athletic program. The fact of the matter is athletic programs and other after school activities (drama, band etc) have the unique capability of keeping kids out of trouble [...]

No Child Left Behind in High Schools

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:43:33 -0400

It seems that almost every time I run into the “No Child Left Behind” I get the feeling that it is about making a “good face.” In other words the schools are afraid of being put on a list of schools that fail to meet the required tests scores and it becomes an obsession [...]

Integration Formation

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:14:52 -0400

Separate but equal, which was the final verdict of the court case of Brown v. Education in 1954 was the biggest load of excrements that I had ever learned. Although this decision was supposed to theoretically insure that every one had an equal education and equal opportunities, we know that that is not the case. [...]

The Way of the Web

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 02:05:28 -0400

These days, it seems far more likely to find your teen glued to the computer screen than to the latest literary release (Harry Potter books aside). – Garrett, RoseRemembering back to the time when overhead projectors, resembling an ugly swan with wheels, was the newest source of technology within the classroom, it’s hard to even [...]

Its not just the schools, you know.

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:32:41 -0400

It’s pretty obvious that the performance of students is directly related to the type of education they’re getting at school. We also know that the type of people schools shape affect the communities in their area. So, would it be safe to say that if a school in a poor community is creating students who [...]

Young Dreaming of Living Abroad

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:52:43 -0400

According to the BBC, seven out of ten young people would like to live and work abroad some day, but most of them dont have a second language necessary for that. A group of 560 UK students ranging from age 11 to 18 were interviewed about learning second language and studying abroad. Of them, 58% [...]

ACT: A Crappy Test

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:34:10 -0400

Finally, someone is thinking clearly! According to the International Herald Tribune, a highly influential commission is debating the significance of the SAT and ACT in determining student acceptance to colleges. Some colleges have already made standardized tests optional; hopefully more will follow suit. It looks as though, after doing research for the past year, people [...]

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:11:07 -0400

I was one of several students having trouble finding an article that piqued their interest, so after reading another students blog entry, I stole her idea and spent some time searching around on Google. Eventually I found an article that I found extremely interesting. In the world views section of The San Francisco Chronicle, the [...]

Where does our time go?

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:10:31 -0400

I am constantly hearing about changes in the education system and different methods; all of which are supposed to improve the quality of a students education. Along with these changes I keep hearing about how America is inferior in its quality of education, in comparison to some European countries. High school graduates in Europe often [...]

Show us the money.

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:31:38 -0400

“We undereducated these kids’ parents, we undereducated their grandparents and now we’re in the process of undereducating them.”-Senator James Meeks on the conditions of the Chicago Public SchoolsIn my first post I made a reference to the cycle of poverty and sub-par education citizens of poor communities become trapped in. Today I’d to continue a [...]

A Bilingual Country

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:10:26 -0400

I was really excited when I came across this article because it fits perfectly with everything Im studying. The English language is becoming more and more of a necessity all over the world. It has become almost a universal second language, and countries on all continents are trying to educate their children so that the [...]

Lowering the Standards for (NCLB)

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:51:46 -0400

Let us again discuss the problematic issues surrounding the law No Child Left Behind. I want to focus on an article written by Alex Davidson titled “NCLB R.I.P.” The article is primarily about No Child Left Behind’s inevitable demise. It’s downfall will happen because of the wrongful doings being done to help school districts maintain [...]

Child Nutrition Act and Corny Advertising

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:52:25 -0400

I recently stumbled upon the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicines (A committee of Doctors and laypersons working together for compassionate and effective medical practice, research, and health promotion) website.The Child Nutrition Act will be reauthorized in the year 2009. The PCRM is urging people to contact the USDA with suggestions, which you can do here [...]

No Child Left Behind Problems

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:30:56 -0400

I went off on a tangent in my first post on the subject of going green. I now want to get on with the real topic that my blog will focus on. I want to discuss No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and it’s many problems. This post I want to comment on an article written [...]

Standardized Tests Scores Make False Conclusions

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:02:37 -0400

In an age where standardized tests are consuming the educational system and students competence is based on an A, B, C, or D answer, it is fair to question the purpose of these tests. What are they measuring? Are they providing students with a unique educational experience? Are standardized tests teaching students information that they [...]

Free Online Textbooks

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 18:38:34 -0400

I recently happened upon the article Don’t Buy That Textbook, Download It Freeby Noam Cohen on the New York Times website. While I realize that this is more of an issue that pertains to college students, I thought that this was something thatcould eventually have someimpact on secondary education as well.It has often been my [...]

The positives and the negatives of using computers in education

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 17:35:42 -0400

Whether or not laptops and desktop computersare being used effectively in the classroom is something that many people have been debating. Some believe that the use ofcomputers helps to get students more interested in things like writing. Others seecomputers as something that can easily be misused by students. The article Pencils, schmencils, I need a [...]

Using Hip-Hop Within the Classroom

Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:22:57 -0400

You gotta realize that Shakespeare was a really cool dude,” says Sitomer, . . . “I mean, he put rhymes down on paper about the same stuff that Biggie, Tupac, and Ice Cube laid down some of their best tracks about.” As a natural followup to my previous post on making poetry and literature more [...]

Right Questions, Wrong Context

Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:52:09 -0400

You could say I stumbled upon this post by accident. Although I grew up in the digital age, I have a love-hate relationship with all things computerized. In high school, while all my classmates were busy typing away in the computer lab, I could usually be found curled up in the hallway, furiously scribbling [...]

When Dealing with Poetry. . . .

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:48:30 -0400

I have a favorite poem. Its titled “One Heart” by Li-Young Lee. Truthfully though, beyond the classics or random internet poems, I have not really read much poetry. Ill readily admit that poetry is a fairly daunting topic to me. It can be so hard to understand and, for many, [...]

A disappearing comment

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:07:01 -0400

Hi everyone! For some reason a comment I received about my last post won’t show up, even after I approve it.So, in order to allow everyone to see it, I’ve copiedits content into the space below:apangealearninghttp://apangealearning.wordpress.com/ | bwallace@apangealearning.com | 63.138.205.98Dear Ms. Holmes;Thank you for taking time to look at our press release about Apangea Learning [...]

Unnoticeable

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:52:16 -0400

The students in urban America are continuously failing and the numbers are constantly increasing. Carolyn Pippen states in her article We dont need no education: You have heard the stats before: Fourth graders in low-income schools are on average three grade levels behind their higher income peers, and only 50 percent of them will [...]

How Can we Help?

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 11:09:31 -0400

The NCLB act has many teachers, parents and most importantly the students at a serious disadvantage. As a teacher one is expected to follow the strict guidelines and incorporate strategies in the class to help their students pass a state standardized test. In the article My Word by John Green he expresses an opposing and [...]

English teachersunwanted here? Wanted there.

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 16:13:25 -0400

I wasn’t too pleased with the results of my RSS subscriptions, so I decided to do some more searching.Jackpot!I found great articles through a “Teaching ESL” search on Google News.The first article that I read caught my attention because it reminded me of what my Linguistics professor told us on the first day of class. [...]

Talk about teaching to the test!

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 22:54:41 -0400

Well, here it is. The next example of just how damaging test scores can be. According to a press release from Earthtimes.org, The Nation’s Report Card has revealed that 75 percent of American high school seniors are less than proficient writers. Apparently it’s a crisis of epic proportions, at least if I believe the headline. [...]

I Have a Mission and it MUST Be Accomplished

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:31:00 -0400

The African American male is an endangered species in America, but I plan to significantly replenish his existence in this country. After viewing CNNs special, Black in America, I received the startling statistic that only 50% of African American males graduate from high school. Because education plays a monumental role in future success, that means [...]

Introduction

Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:02:39 -0400

I wasnt sure what exactly I wanted to use as a topic for my blog. I knew, however, that I wanted something to do with language. So I narrowed it down to two: ESL and bilingual education. Ive had experience with both…well, sort of. Although Ive lived in the US my entire life, before I [...]

What should have been the opening post

Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:13:44 -0400

After misunderstanding what the opening post was supposed to be about I thought I would go back and we introduce my blog.The topics that I will discuss on my blog are going to surround student atheletes in High School. It has been my experience that some schools will emphasize the athelete before the student, which [...]

Literacy in Schools

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:44:58 -0400

There have been many concerns in the news lately about the education system, and which president would be best to help solve some of these solutions. Many of these concerns include standardized testing, schools complying with the “No Child Left Behind Act,” as well as lack of funding. The issue I have chosen to address [...]

More Children Left Behind?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:19:59 -0400

I am a senior college student majoring in elementary education. In my studies there are many opportunities for me to sit in the classroom and observe teachers and students. In many of my observations I was astonished at the amount of time that teachers had to put towards preparing their students for state tests at [...]

Standarized Testing in Kindergarten?

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:46:42 -0400

Nothing stifles creativity in a classroom like standardized tests; unfortunately, if the Bloomberg administration gets its way, even kindergarten teachers may be forced to succumb to the pressures brought on by standardized test preparation. According to an article on the New York Times website, the administration is encouraging public schools to test their younger elementary [...]